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Snacks & Five Live at the Beer Garden!
July 8, 2023 @ 7:00 pm - 9:30 pm
For Traverse City’s Jack Fivecoate, arriving at Snacks and Five’s “high-energy, jam rock-funk wrapped in a reggae blanket” came after an unusual globe-trotting journey.
Starting to play guitar and harmonica at age 13, Fivecoate participated in choir and played in various bands while attending Traverse City Central High School, and later joined The FunDubMentals reggae outfit.
After spending time in Atlanta, recording his first solo album there, he moved to a small island off the coast of Honduras where he played bars at night and made a living as a professional scuba diver by day.
Eventually, the singer-guitarist moved back to northern Michigan, bumping into guitarist and old pal Erik Griffin at a G-Snacks show – thus spawning the creation of Snacks and Five in 2019 with drummer Justin Perry, also from G-Snacks.
Since then, the band has played regularly around Traverse City as an acoustic trio, releasing its first EP, “Feel It In the Air,” in early August. Music from the EP has been featured on the national Cali Roots Radio show on XM Radio.
“Our acoustic live performances are very eclectic. We play folk, Latin, reggae, blues, and whatever else we feel like – filled with lots of high-energy guitar solos, unique vocals, and masterful djembe. We like to think any music lover of any style leaves our acoustic shows happy,” Fivecoate said.
“Our full band electric performance (fills) the dance floor and keeps both music lovers and dancers happy. We aren’t afraid to jam a song out and see where it goes. We don’t like to play the same song the same way twice.”
Beyond the band’s core trio, the electric lineup features bassist Stu Ford and keyboardist Jimmy Olson.
After playing 96 shows in 2021, Snacks and Five will take a brief hiatus later this year when Fivecoate travels to Key West for the winter to perform solo “till Justin and Erik come down in February for us to play as an acoustic trio for a couple of months.”
“Our long-term plan is to make a true living playing music,” Fivecoate said. “It’s all any of us have ever wanted and we are getting closer to it every day.”